Attack on Egypt Christian church kills 21 people

At least 21 people were killed early Saturday in a New Year's day car bomb attack on a church in Alexandria, hitting Egypt's Christian community, the biggest in the Middle East, a health ministry official said.

"The number of dead has risen to 21," Ussama Abdel Moneim said, adding that eight people were wounded in the attack. An earlier toll from the interior ministry said seven people had been killed and 79 wounded, which prompted hundreds of Christians to take to the streets in protest. Some Christians and Muslims pelted each other with rocks, a witness said. Cars were torched.

The unclaimed attack came as the faithful left the al-Qiddissine (the Saints) church in the Sidi Bechr district of the northern city at around half past midnight.

A witness told private television channel On-TV that he had seen a green Skoda car pull up outside the church shortly after midnight. Men got out and the explosion took place almost immediately after.

'Growing perils'

The attack on a Coptic church in Egypt which killed 21 people shows the growing perils faced by Christian minorities, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said Saturday.

Williams, the leader of Anglicans worldwide, said the bombing on New Year's Eve in Alexandria was "yet another dreadful reminder of the pressure of Christian minorities are under in the Middle East, echoing the atrocities we have seen in recent weeks.

"The Coptic community and other Christian groups in Egypt can be sure of our deep sorrow at this terrible event and our continuing prayers and support for them," he added in a statement.

"We know the long and honorable history of co-existence of Christians and Muslims in Egypt and are confident that the overwhelming majority of Egyptian people will join in condemning this and similar acts."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused "foreign hands" of carrying out the attack in Alexandria, which also injured 79 people.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but al-Qaeda has called for Egypt's Copts to be punished over claims that two priests' wives they say had converted to Islam were being held by the church against their will.

The Christian minority in Iraq is living in fear after a wave of attacks in recent months, with two people dying in Baghdad in the latest bombings on Thursday.

This is a scene from Baghdad

A witness

EU condemnation

The European Union "unreservedly" condemned the attacks and demanded the right to gather and to worship be protected.

"There cannot be any justification for this attack," the EU's foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

"The right of Christian Copts to gather and worship freely must be protected."

Ashton "condemns unreservedly" and was "deeply saddened" by the suicide bomb attack that left 21 people dead and injured 79 outside a Coptic church in Alexandria, the statement added.

Pope Benedict, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, denounced violence against Christians in his New Year address.

Analysts said they did not expect a return to the kind of Islamic militant insurgency crushed by Egypt's government in the 1990s. Nevertheless, the attack could add to sectarian tension and points to influence of foreign Islamist groups.

"The first and most likely possibility is that a sleeper cell of al Qaeda group carried out this operation and this would mean that al-Qaeda has penetrated the Islamic political movement in Egypt," said analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah.

Alexandria governor Adel Labib "accused al Qaeda of planning the bombing", state television reported.

Officials are swift to play down sectarian differences and have been keen to emphasize national harmony before the September presidential poll.

Mubarak, 82 and in power since 1981, is expected to run if he is able to. Gallbladder surgery in March revived questions about his health, but he has returned to a full schedule.

Sectarian tension is fuelled in part by Christian grievances such as laws making it easier to build mosques than churches.

The first and most likely possibility is that a sleeper cell of al Qaeda group carried out this operation

analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah